Lubricator.



E. A. & J. E. JONES.

LUBRICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED APR-2], 1916.

1 ,21 7,95 l Patented Mar. 6, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I- E. A. & J. E. JONES.

LUBRICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 27, 1916.

Patented Mar. 6, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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TJNTTED STATES PATENT OFFIG.

EDVIARD ALBERT JONES, AND J OHN ELMER JONES, OF SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOIRS TO ENGINEERS SPECIALTY COMPANY, OF SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

LUBRICATOR.

Application filed April 27, 1916.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that we, EDWARD A. Jonas and JOHN E. J ONES, citizens of the United States, residing at Scranton, in the county of Lackawanna and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lubricators, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to new and useful improvements in automatic lubricators, the object of our invention being to provide a lubricator for feeding graphite or other lubricants manufactured in solid form to the valves of steam engines, the pistons of engines, or any other moving parts for which such lubricant may be intended.

A further object of our invention is the construction of a lubricator by means of which stick graphite may be exposed to the action of an oscillating cutter in the form of a skeletonized disk having radial cutting ribs or blades and in which the part of the graphite cut or ground from the stick is mixed with steam and fed under steam pressure to the parts being lubricated.

A still further object of our invention consists in the provision of a novel means for controlling the rate at which graphite shall be cut or ground from the stick, this controlling means being such that it may be governed from a distant point, if desired.

A still further object of our invention consists in constructing a lubricator of the above described character in two principal parts which may be readily assembled, one of the parts being attachable to a valve chest or like housing and the other being detachable from the first part and arranged to expose the cutter mechanism when removed, provision being made for supplying fresh sticks of graphite to the lubricator without the necessity of separating the body members.

With these and other objects in view, our invention will be more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and then specifically pointed out in the claims which are attached to and form a part of this application.

In the drawings:

Figure l is an elevation of our improved lubricator;

Fig. 2 is a central, vertical sectional View through the lubricator, taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 6, 1917.

Serial No. 93,941.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2, showing the lower body member in plan;

Fig. A is a bottom plan view of the upper body member.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

Referring more specifically to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be seen that our improved lubricator includes a body proper formed in two principal parts 10 and 11. The lower body portion 10 is substantially tubular in shape throughout the greater portion of its length, being externally threaded at its lower end for threaded engagement in the wall of a steam chest or other similar structure and being formed adjacent such threaded end with angular faces 12 to facilitate its application. A base plate 13 is preferably threaded upon the end of the body member 10 to engage against the outer face of the chest or structure into which the body is threaded and serve as a lock nut, this plate being formed with screw receiving openings 14 by means of which it may be anchored in place. Above the angular faces 12, the body 10 is formed with a laterally directed internally threaded nipple 15 for communicative attachment with an oil cup or other source of oil supply in order that oil may be fed with the steam and graphite to the parts being lubricated, when desired. If no supply of oil is required, this ni ple may be closed by a threaded plug, not s hown.

The upper end of the body member 10 is enlarged to provide a circular housing member 16 formed eccentrically with respect to the body member 10 and provided in its upper face with a relatively shallow circular chamber 17 eccentrically formed with respect to the body member 10, but concentrically formed with respect to the housing 16. The passage 18 through the body member 10, at its upper end, is enlarged or flared somewhat, as shown at 19, in the direction of the central portion of the housing 16 to insure a more free feeding of ground graphite into the passage, as will be later explained.

The housing 16 is formed centrally with a tapped bore to receive a stufling box structure 20 through. which extends a rotatable shaft 21. The lower end of this shaft pro jecting through the stufiin-g box is squared to externally threaded, as shown at 31.

squared portion is reduced and threaded to receive a clamping nut 23 by means of which the arm is secured to the squared portion of the shaft. This arm 22 is formed with a longitudinal series of pivot receiving openings 24 in order that a link may be detach ably connected to it and when suitably connected to any movable part of the mechanism being lubricated, serve as a means for oscillating the shaft 21. The upper end of the shaft 21 is also squared to pass through a squared opening formed in the center or hub portion of a cutting member, indicated as a whole by the numeral '25, this shaft being held against disengagement from the cutter member by a cotter pin 26 passed through the squared portion of the shaft and engaging the upper face of the hub of the cutter. This cutting member is in the form of a disk skeletonized to provide a hub 27, radial cutting ribs or spokes 28 and a rim 29, the spokes being substantially triangular in cross section in order that their upper portions may present cutting edges to a stick of graphite held against the cutting member so that the ribs or shoulders may cut or scrape graphite from the stick, the graphite thus cut away falling between the ribs or shoulders, as will be readily understood.

The upper body member 11 of the lubricator includes a tubular portion or body proper 30 adapted to extend in alinement with the tubular portion of the body member 10 and having its upper end open and The lower end of the portion 30 of the body member 11 is enlarged to provide a substantially circular housing 82 formed in its lower face with a circular and relatively shallow chamber 38. This housing member 32 is eccentrically formed and so proportioned as to combine with the housing member 16 to form a single inclosure for the cutting mechanism, above described, the peripheral edge portions or flanges of the two housing sections abutting against each other and being formed with alined openings to receive bolts 35 having nuts 36 by means of which the body members 10 and 11 are secured together. Preferably, a gasket or packing ring 37 is interposed bet-ween the flanges 34 to prevent escape of steam from the lubricator; The central portion of the chamber 33 is deepened to provide a steam space or chamber 38 directly over the center of the cutting member 25 although the tubular portion 30 of the body member 11 is extended to the level of the wall of the chamber 38, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, in order that the tubular passage 39 of the body portion 11 may extend continuously into the chamber 33, opening in juxtaposition to one side of the cutting member 25 and directly above the flared upper end receive one end of an arm 22 and below the l) of the passage 18. As clearly shown in 2, this passage or chamber 39 is preferably of greater diameter than the passage 18 and equal in diameter to the flared upper end 19 of the latter passage. The housing member 32 is formed with a tapped openin g to receive one end of a steam supply pipe 10 through which steam may be supplied to the chamber 38 and so directed against the upper portion of the cutting member 25 and in the direction of the flared end 19 of the passage 18.

The upper end of the body member 11 is closed by a cap 11, the top of which is formed with a tapped opening to receive a stufiing box structure &2 through which is reciprocably mounted a piston rod 453 carrying at its lower end a piston i4: substantially equal in diameter to the internal diameter of the chamber 39 and adapted to engage against a stick of graphite, shown at 15, which in turn engages against the cutting member 25. Threaded upon the upper end of the piston roc T3 is a knob 16 into which is threaded the shank 47 of a pulley sheave 48 having a pulley wheel 19. Referring to Fig. 1, it will be seen that the body member 11, intermediate its height, is formed with diametrically disposed bosses 50 into one of which is threaded the shank of an eye 51 and into the other of which is threaded the shank of a second pulley sheave 52 having the pulley wheel suitable flexible connection is provided at one end with a hook 55 for engagement with the eye 51 and is trained upwardly over the pulley %t9 and downwardly beneath the pulley 53 in such a manner that strain exerted upon the other end of the chain will act to force the piston rod 43 downwardly and hold the graphite into more or less close engagement with the cutting member 25. Obviously, the greater the pressure exerted against the graphite the more rapidly the graphite will be cut-away from the stick and fed into the passage 18. x

In operation, a stick of graphite is positioned in the chamber 39 of the upper body member, as best shown in Fig. 2, and steam is supplied through the pipe 4E0. Inasmuch as the graphite is held by the piston i4 against the upper face of the cutting 'member 25, which is constantly oscillated,

A. chain 51 or other cutting member and of somewhat heating both the graphite and adjacent parts of the lubricator to facilitate the grinding or cutting action. The cut off or ground graphite passing with the steam through the lower body member is met by the oil entering through the nipple 15 and the mixed graphite, steam and oil passed through the passage 18 to the parts being lubricated. Obviously, the exact proportions of steam, graphite and oil may be varied at will by suitable means for controlling the supply of steam and oil, such as valves of any well known type.

It will be clear that the above described structure is such that the parts may be readily assembled and such that the upper body member may be readily removed from the lower one to facilitate cleaning of the cut ting member or its sharpening, if desired. Furthermore, by removing the cap ll, the feeding piston may be readily removed from the body member 11 and a fresh stick of graphite inserted in the chamber It is, therefore, not necessary to separate the body members to renew ,the supply of graphite. I

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A lubricator including a tubular body member formed with a duct for the lubricant, a housing formed at the upper end of the body member, a cutting device mounted for oscillation within the housing and including radial cutting edges, means for holding a stick of graphite against the cutting device and in alinement with the tubular body member, and means for oscillating the cutting device. 4

2. A lubricator including a tubular body member forming a duct for the lubricant, a housing formed at the upper end of the body member, a cutting member including a diskshaped body cut-away to provide a hub, rim and radial connecting blades between the hub and rim, means for holding a stick of graphite in engagement with the upper face of the cutting member, and means for oscillating the cutting member.

3. A lubricator including a body providing alined graphite holding and graphite feeding passages, a cutting member interposed between the passages, and adjustable means controllable from a distance for holding a stick of graphite in engagement with the cutting member.

42. A lubricator including a body providing alined graphite holding and graphite feeding passages, a cutting member interposed between the passages, and adjustable means for holding a stick of graphite in engagement with the cutting member, said means including a follower adapted to engage the graphite and projecting beyond the lubricator body, and a flexible element operatively engaging the follower whereby downward pressure may be exerted against the follower.

5. lubricatorincluding a body providing alined graphite holding and graphite feeding passages, a cutting member interposed between the passages, and adjustable means for holding a stick of graphite in engagement with the cutting member, said means including a follower adapted to engage the graphite and projecting beyond the lubricator body, a pulley carried by the free end of the follower, and a flexible element fixed at one end and passed over the pulley.

6. A lubricator including body forming members having tubular portions adapted to aline with each other when the members are assembled, each member at one end being formed with an eccentrically located housing having its outer face recessed to provide a chamber contained within a peripheral flange, fastening means through the flanges of the members to secure them together, a cutting member mounted within the chamber of one body member, and means for holding the stick of graphite contained in the tubular portion of the other body member in engagement with the cutting member.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures.

EDWARD ALBERT JONES. JOHN ELMER JONES.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). C. 

